Thursday, 12 July 2007

Al een jaar in Nederland

Already one year in the Netherlands. It was like a glimpse. I’m sitting in my childhood bedroom now in hot Greece. This year is running back in my mind. Since I got in Greece I already miss the Dutch trains, the perfect roads and generally that abstract sense that everything works! However, by the first moment here, I felt the difference in those two countries view over the food! Oh, really, Dutch people have no idea. They just put something in their mouth to make their stomach stop complaining (“brood met iets erop”). Greeks on the other way have turned cooking into a real art. And that great artist, my mother, of course had something great for me when I came back. Hehehe.

I’m having a hard time to get used to the Greek summer. I left Netherlands with 12 degrees celcius and I landed on 30 degrees Greece. Well, it’s nice not to worry about what you’re going to wear (you wear as less things as you can, all 24 hours of the day), but if you work in a big city like Athens or Thessaloniki, you really suffer! I made a small visit to the capital of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, and it was like a trip to hell. The busses usually had no air-conditioning, and even when they did, the people were not patient enough and they opened the windows. So, no use.

Also a big difference that cheered me up when I came here. Whenever you go out: Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Sunday it doesn’t matter… it’ s always crowded! In Netherlands there are people outside only on Friday and Saturday. Sunday is a dead day all day long. Here Sunday is always crowded. People go on trips or just out to drink their coffee in a café by reading their Sunday-newspaper or just meeting friends.

Every country has its pros and its cons. Although I think I’ve already got acquainted to all the cons of Netherlands, there are still many pros to discover. It was a busy year with lots of courses and only a few money. Next year there will be more time to do things and more money since I’ll be working. But till then… I can have a great summer under the Greek sun ;)